The New Narcocultura
Interesting "Letter from Mexico: Days of the Dead," by Alma Guillermoprieto, illuminating the narcotraficante culture in Mexico.
"Days of the Dead."Along the edges of the packed street, young men took quick snorts of glue and sometimes wept. A thin tattooed and pierced man with terrible skin was the only one of the many young toughs present who was willing to talk to me, and his amiability may have had something to do with the fact that he had just absent-mindedly assembled a joint about the size of a Robusto and was now wreathed in its smoke. The Holy Death had restored to him the love of the excruciatingly shy woman at his side, the man said, and he was now Death’s devotee forever. At the front of the crowd, banks of flowers to rival those laid at Princess Diana’s grave paid tribute to the skeleton. Half hidden by the flowers was a large, clear plastic death figure, and behind it was a sound system at which one of Queta’s sons would soon lead the Rosary. Behind that, Queta cackled in answer to a question. Yes, it was true that the Catholic Church disapproved of her “Little Skinny One,” she said. “But have you noticed how empty their churches are?”
Queta’s genius has been to create out of her Catholic faith an inclusive syncretic ritual: a Rosary, which is recited complete with Hail Marys and the Lord’s Prayer; special prayers for those in jail; and a culminating, quasi-Pentecostal moment when the faithful all lift their effigy to Heaven to “charge it with energy.” It is a cult, Queta says, accurately, that does not discriminate. A Catholic priest might extend grudging absolution to those who confess that they have just sold several grams of crystal meth to a bunch of twelve-year-olds, but only at Queta’s Rosary can you be blessed on a monthly basis without the matter of how you earn a living ever coming up.
Queta, naturally enough, denies that the Santa Muerte is a devotion for drug traffickers—one more element of the narcocultura. Why, then, I wondered, was it perceived as such outside Tepito?
“Ha!” she exclaimed. “Because every single time one of them is arrested or killed they find my Little Skinny One on their altar!” From the storefront next to the shrine, where she sells candles and other devotional objects for the cult, she blew another kiss and called out to her patron saint, “Preciosa!”
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Woah, crazy, like reading Bolaño's 2666. Yikes!
Sounds almost like being at my neighbor's house for a party. Except for the Spanish, and replace the Catholic totems with pictures of invading robots and cybernetic steampunk mecha things.
"Do you want the wizzard, or the skull?"
I read this story in last weeks issue of the New Yorker and I found it to be a really really interesting article. This excerpt of the story gives only a brief glimpse of the narcocultura, so I would suggest it as a good read to all.
Woah, crazy, like reading Bolaño's 2666. Yikes!
Technology doesn't love you. But it will permit you to worship at its altar.
Every culture has its totems. Different culture, different totems.
Barack Obama is in the process of becoming one too. http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/09/shine-the-light-on-o.html
A cult, not a religion - something that you can't pass on, doesn't provide actual social support, and is inherently harmful. Worse than Scientology, even.
"Culto", in Spanish, just means worship. I don't think it has the same connotation as in English.
@Devophill: I agree that "culto" has a softer connotation than "cult", but because there is no other word for "cult" in spanish its exact meaning depends on context.
Heh, I'll quote Michael Shermer on this one though: "What's the difference between a cult and a religion?
100 years, give or take"
Every single religion has started as a "cult", and if it survived and gained enough followers it graduated to religion, or at least a sect.
Also, something the article ignores completely is that this cult (or whatever) did not come out of a vacuum. Mexico still has deep, deep roots with pre-colombian beliefs and superstitions, The Day of the Dead and the ubiquitous Curanderos being two prominent examples.
Heh, to be fair to Catholicism though, Santo Malverde, the patron Saint of drug traffickers, has been around for much longer than La Santa Muerte.
Rosa Maria Robles, whose work is referred to in the article, has a website that features some of the photos mentioned:
http://www.rosamariarobles.com/
Of particular interest is the photo of the "absurd" black ostrich leather boots with ostrich eggs.
mmmm, my precious! it has the precious!
I'm more than a bit intrigued and, quite honestly, a bit afraid right now.
See, I have a very, very good friend, and he's not what you call a "normal religion". I could normally care less- religion is a sham, so I don't care who or what he worships. It is his freedom to do so!
But now, for the first time, I'm worried- I haven't finished the article yet, but that red robed death statue, the drug use, and worshiping Death itself is what I gather- this sounds like my friend. He went through many occult religions over the years, even vampirism, but when you're raised pentacostal baptist, anything after is an attack against that repression.
I asked him many times, what's the statue? (it looks EXACTLY like that) He tells me it's death, and he worships that now. As far as I know, he smokes bud, but not normally...
I had no idea until now this was a movement. I hope my friend isn't going to be hurt by this- I will finish the article and talk to him.
I first read about La Santa Muerte four years ago; here's a copy of that article:
http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=2769&sec=55&con=6
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1671984,00.html
BastardNamban:
While you will find LSM associated with the "narcotraficante culture", that's only a subset of her followers. The best quote to illustrate that is from the 2004 article:
"Two police officers stopped and crossed themselves in front of a life-size, scythe-carrying skeleton in a satin robe mounted in a glass case in front of the church. A few minutes later, a man with a face covered with tattoos and cuts did the same."
Its not that they worship 'death' per se (as in the glorifying of death), but rather its more along the lines of being aware that death is omnipresent but not malicious; everyone dies, but hopefully one can avoid 'dying badly' via supernatural intervention. Avoiding 'dying badly' may also be seen as 'living well' as in the example from above:
"The Holy Death had restored to him the love of the excruciatingly shy woman at his side, the man said, and he was now Death’s devotee forever."
See also this translated article about a large effigy of La Santa Muerte:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanguardia.com.mx%2Fdiario%2Fnoticia%2Festados%2Fnacional%2Festatua_de_la_santa_muerte_divide_a_seguidores_%2F110131&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=es&tl=en
"Trailer for the documentary Saint Death (La Santa Muerte)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgQftFWM41Q